Housing Plan Hits An Obstacle

March 23, 2005|By CLAUDIA VAN NES; Courant Staff Writer

OLD SAYBROOK — When developer David Mack got the go-ahead from zoning officials and the courts to proceed with plans for a 186-unit affordable housing complex, both approvals assumed there would be a second access to the site through the Old Saybrook Shopping Center.

Apparently, however, no one checked with the shopping center's owner to see whether that would be acceptable.

It's not.

``I didn't give approval for access through my property, and I never would for this project,'' said shopping center owner Matt Rubin.

Both the zoning compliance certificate for the project and the court-stipulated judgment ordering the town to allow the housing include a site plan with a second access through the Old Saybrook Shopping Center.

If the second access cannot be created, the housing proposal for the 14-acre site, as approved, cannot be constructed.

``The site plan depicts a driveway through Matt Rubin's property,'' zoning commission attorney Mark Branse said Tuesday. ``If David Mack [the owner of the proposed affordable housing site] builds, he'd be in violation of his certificate of zoning compliance.''

The setback for Mack's plan might be good news for another developer, Cal Caldarella, who said Tuesday that he wants to purchase the 14 acres adjacent to Rubin's shopping center, but for retail use, not housing.

Rubin, meanwhile, said Kohl's department store is still interested in building on the acreage.

Mack has owned the property, which runs along the Amtrak rail lines at the end of North Main Street, for years and has a long contentious history with the town over his development plans.

Lowe's Home Improvement Center had eyed the site but the town rejected that plan and Mack sued. After losing that legal battle, Mack made good on his threat to instead build ``affordable'' housing on the site.

The town's attempts to tone down his plans for three-story, walk-up apartments were largely rejected by the court in another lawsuit brought by Mack in fall 2002.

This paved the way for the 186-unit project, but there was no further action until last fall when Mack tried unsuccessfully to scale back the plans to 120 units and make other changes. A potential buyer with similar plans was also rebuffed by zoning, which reasoned that if the town was going to have affordable housing it ought to have enough units to make a difference.

Meanwhile, Rubin was negotiating with Kohl's to settle on Mack's property and believed he had a deal finalized with Mack when Mack pulled out.

Caldarella recently stepped in to buy the property for retail use.

``I would never build affordable housing in this town,'' he said -- and he, too, said he believed he had a deal with Mack.

But again, Mack pulled out, telling Caldarella and others he had a buyer willing to pay more and who wanted to carry out the affordable housing project. The land is worth more for housing than for retail, both Rubin and Caldarella said.

But, the latest wrinkle over the access could well sink that deal because the new owner would need to find other access, which is problematic, and re-apply to zoning. How the new information affects the court stipulated judgment is unclear.

Rubin said he is more than willing to give the access through the shopping center to Caldarella if he brings in Kohl's. The property is zoned for commercial use and residential is prohibited except for affordable housing, which transcends local zoning restrictions.